Ebook: The Philatelic Atlas

Praga ĈSSR: GKP., 1987. — 356 p. — ISBN 29-701-87.
English. The Philatelic Atlas
Nearly all stamps that are collected bear the name of an issuing country, but In terms of
geography this name often means very little, because unless the stamp is a contemporary
one it can be quite difficult to find out the precise whereabouts of the country or territory
Theoretically it should be possible to look it up in an atlas, but this is seldom helpful: current
atlases have no reason to pay particular attention to territories where stamps are, or were
once, issued, since these often quite small, or existed only briefly. Historical atlases
might be thought to provide the answer, but they seldom do so, since it is unlikely that any
historical atlas will record all the changes in names, states and boundaries over the entire
period of issuing postage stamps. Also, postal system did not always coincide with political
frontiers, as in the case of the long-lived Thurn and Taxis post for example.